The Games We Play
by Rae TB
Summary: Brooklyn is a game. A game that must be a won, and a puzzle that must be solved. Kai wants to win, but how can he when he's facing the game master himself? KaiBrooklyn.


Here I am...once again mutilating the last two episodes of G Revolution!...and let me tell you it is FUN. Anyway, I know I was thinking of doing MystelBrooklyn next, and I'm still going to do that, but this idea popped up and I had to listen to my muse. She's annoying like that.

Anyway, I tried writing in a different style this time, so sorry if it ended up bleh. This is the first time I've tried writing this way...Thisexperimentation is also why it's a tad shorter than usual...Hopefully, you'll see what I mean.

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Brooklyn was an enigma, a puzzle that had to be solved, and a game that had to be won. But every time the puzzle was close to completion, another piece would go missing. There was always a new secret passage to unlock, and new clues to collect. The way to win the game was constantly changing. Brooklyn was the game master of his own game. He was cruel to the players he humiliated them, broke them, shattered their hope. At the same time he was kind hearted and soft, gentle, and loving. He was the cat; wise and cunning, and the players of his game were the mice. He constantly adapted to new circumstances and did whatever it took to make the game more interesting.

To Brooklyn, life was a game.

Perhaps it was the mystery surrounding the redhead that attracted Kai to him. Or perhaps it was something else. Intrigue is what had drawn Kai to him, but there was something else that sent him back for more. The first time Kai had seen him he had been filled with awe; he had to play this new game, and he had to win. There was something about an un-winnable game that appealed to him. Surely, he wouldn't fail. Others before him might have, but he was invincible. Kai would soon get his chance to play Brooklyn's game, and he would soon lose as everyone else before him had.

But while Brooklyn was an enigma, Kai was a phoenix. He too adapted quickly. He was able to learn from his victory and fly out of the ashes newly born. He was more determined than ever to play the game master again, but next time, he would win. There was something about the boy that left an ache in his heart, and a desert in his mouth. The phoenix had to relieve the ache and quench the thirst that had been left. Kai was more determined than he ever had been; he would beat the game.

The phoenix trained even though he knew it was useless; no amount of training could prepare a gamer for whatever the game master planned to throw at them. But he had to try. There were no cheat manuals that could help him, but he would create his own. He was the fiery, hot headed phoenix, he wouldn't give in. The game master was more talented, more skilled than he would ever be, the game itself was seemingly unbeatable. However, Kai had something neither the game nor its inventor had; heart. To Brooklyn the game he has created was just that: a game. To Kai it was so much more than that.

After his defeat he had his work cut out for him. Not only did he have to be victorious the next time he played this game, he had to reach the game master. He had to show the boy what life was all about, what it meant to have passion and heart. Kai had to save Brooklyn from his own game, from himself. Had the maker of the game been anyone else, Kai wouldn't have been so passionate about saving them, but he had to save Brooklyn.

The young prodigy had been one of his greatest challenges, become one of his greatest rivals. Kai had learned more in that game than he had ever wanted to. But the lessons he walked away with were more valuable than any other he had picked up. Brooklyn had taught him so much, and now Kai had to return the favor.

It was time for the student to teach the teacher.

Brooklyn hadn't worried. He had created this game; he would win with ease just as he had done before. But unbeknownst to him the pawn in his game was no longer a pawn; Kai had reached the end of the game board and become a knight. But he still hadn't won. There was still a king to be captured, and overthrown.

The game had begun in its usual way. Brooklyn had utterly dominated the battlefield destroying everything in his path. Everything except for Kai. The phoenix wouldn't stay down no matter what he tried. Every time Kai was knocked down, he stood back up. At first Brooklyn wasn't concerned, it was only a matter of time. But the victory he had envisioned so clearly in his mind's eye was fading. The redhead grew desperate for a victory; he would do whatever it took to crush Kai once and for all. The battle commenced this way until finally...

"Checkmate."

The game was played and the victor had been chosen.

Brooklyn the game master had lost. His reign as king had come to a close.

But it wasn't possible. How could he the king of games be toppled by a phoenix? Something had been different this time. Kai had played the game in a new way. This was a strategy he had never encountered before and he had no idea how to react. This just couldn't be happening to him. He was the game master, he knew all the tricks, and the ways the players would try in vain to win. He had seen everything, been prepared for everything.

Everything except a very determined phoenix.

Brooklyn was in denial about his defeat until Hiro had come along. The former game master hadn't seen Hiro when he looked up at him, he had seen Kai. His loss continuously played in his mind. It had been a humiliation, it couldn't have possibly happened. But it had happened. Up until now he had been playing with only his natural talent, and for a while, it had been fine, Hiro had said. But now it was time for the game to be revamped, and the master to practice and gain new skills. Hiro held Brooklyn's launcher out to him, and he had taken it placing it on his arm. The king had his crown back. Next round he would play Tyson.

But the rules of the game had now changed.

He was no longer playing against a phoenix, but a dragon. And the dragon was no longer playing against the game master, or a normal king.

He was playing against the king of darkness.

Kai had beaten Brooklyn, but he had failed at getting through to him. To him that had been the game that really mattered, and he had lost it. When it came to Brooklyn, he always lost, even when he won. He wouldn't handle anymore defeats, he would be there at Tyson's battle, and he would reach Brooklyn.

He just prayed the light of the phoenix was enough to break the spell of the darkness.

As he had promised himself, Kai was there the day of Tyson's match, and so was the dark king. Brooklyn was there, underneath the dark king's facade but so out of his reach. The real Brooklyn was slipping further and further within the darkness with every passing moment. Even the phoenix's bright fire wasn't able to reach him. But he would find a way. Kai had won the game, but he had yet to unlock the puzzle and that was the key.

"Brooklyn!" Kai shouted out to him, he ran toward him but with every step he took Brooklyn just went further and further from his reach.

Kai was forced to watch as the blade of the dragon, and the blade of the dark king were launched into the ring. The two forces clashed and while it appeared the dragon had the upper hand, Kai knew he did not. Since the phoenix's light couldn't save Brooklyn, he prayed his love could. He wouldn't be able to admit it outright, so he would have to show him.

He took a leap of faith, and finally reached him. The phoenix pulled Brooklyn into his arms tenderly touching a hand to the youth's cheek. Their eyes locked crimson and teal meeting and melding together to form one. It was a simple glance, but all of Kai's worry, all of Kai's admiration, and all of his love was inside of it. "Kai..." Brooklyn whispered falling forward into his arms.

"It's okay Brooklyn..." the phoenix replied. And for once that was the truth, the dark king had been vanquished.

"Did I win?" Brooklyn croaked tiredly as Kai glanced over at the dish. Tyson's blade was still spinning, and Brooklyn's had long since stopped.

"Yes Brooklyn, yes you did," Kai whispered.

And somehow Brooklyn knew that even if his blade had stopped spinning, Kai was telling the truth.

FIN


End file.
